Many systems for lighting a space in or around a home, office or industrial building have multi-functional capabilities. For instance, such systems may provide lighting for daytime or operational lighting, night lighting, and emergency lighting. These various capabilities may be designed, for example, to change the appearance of the light so as to minimize the impact on the natural environment and its animal inhabitants or facilitate egress from a certain area in emergency situations.
Many coastal communities, state departments of Natural Resources, and Fish and Game Bureaus have regulations concerning the utilization of outside lighting during animal nesting seasons, turtle nesting season in Florida being a prime example. These regulations mandate that white light sources must be turned off during the nesting season. This is because when the turtles hatch, the turtles walk towards the moon, which leads them to their natural habitat of the ocean. Artificial white light sources used by humans for nighttime illumination have a tendency to confuse the hatchlings by attracting the hatchlings to walk towards this artificial light source and away from their intended destination of the ocean, often leading to the hatchlings' deaths.